Friday, August 31, 2012

The Barnes & Noble ReviewThis entry in Charlaine Harris's genre-blending Southern Vampire series -- an amalgam of mystery, dark fantasy, and paranormal romance -- is easily the most revealing and thematically pivotal volume to date. In the saga's sixth installment, Definitely Dead, telepathic Louisiana barmaid Sookie Stackhouse finds out jaw-dropping information about her first love, 130-something vampire Bill Compton, as well as equally astonishing insights into her own ancestry.

After her only cousin, Hadley, is murdered by one of the undead, Sookie travels to New Orleans to close out the young woman's apartment and collect her things. The unsavory job gets complicated quickly; Hadley was the "honeybun" of the bisexual vampire Queen of Louisiana, the seemingly ageless bloodsucker Sophie-Anne Leclerq. The queen has recently married another powerful sovereign in an attempt to forge a formidable alliance, and tensions in the supernatural community are running high. But when Sookie and her new love interest, a were-tiger named Quinn, are inexplicably kidnapped, the mind-reading waitress must unravel the mysterious circumstances of her cousin's murder before she ends up dead as well…

My thoughts:
I am sure this has been pointed out by many readers, but the thing I am always really struck by is how different these books are than the series. So many details are changed and I wonder why. I know TrueBlood just says it is based on the books, but why change so much? If the story worked well in the book and sold well, wouldn't it follow that people would be interested in seeing that come to the screen?

That fact aside, I had a little trouble getting into this book, but once I was in I really enjoyed it. I have the next two books to read and plan to read them soon while these details are still pretty fresh in my mind. I am glad to see Sookie moving on in her dating life. Sookie's cousin Hadley who was a vampire and the queens consort has met the true death and has left everything to Sookie as she was holding some sort of grudge against Jason. Sookie travels to New Orleans to deal with the apartment and belongings and to make her required appearance with the queen. Sookie gets a lot more than she bargained for in the apartment and gets pulled into some intrigue with the queen and her new husband, the King of Louisiana. There is lots of action, lots of blood, plenty of vampires, witches, Weres and other were beings.Sookie makes a new witch friend in Hadley's landlord.